https://www.declassifieduk.org/palestine-action-barrister-wins-appeal-in-contempt-case/

Rajiv Menon KC faced proceedings which his chambers said were unprecedented in English legal history

A leading human rights barrister has won his appeal against contempt of court proceedings, which were levelled at him for a closing speech in the trial of Palestine Action activists. 

The court of appeal’s ruling on Tuesday in the case of Rajiv Menon KC comes as it has also emerged that four of the defendants found guilty in a retrial can be sentenced as terrorists.

Three court of appeal judges found that the trial judge, Mr Justice Johnson, “had no jurisdiction” to refer the case against Menon to the High Court. 

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Campaign group Defend Our Juries (DoJ) said: “Rajiv Menon KC did what every defence barrister should be free to do – in discharging his duty to his client: he told a jury the truth about their own rights.”

“The fact that contempt of court proceedings were even brought against a barrister for his closing speech – for the first time in British legal history – should deeply concern everyone who cares about the rule of law,” the group added.

Menon had been accused of violating Johnson’s orders in the first trial of six activists who broke into an Israeli-owned arms factory near Bristol in 2024 at the height of the Gaza genocide.

He barred the lawyers from inviting the jury to disregard the court’s ruling of law or to acquit the defendants on the basis of conscience, known as the principle of jury equity.

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Original article at https://www.declassifieduk.org/palestine-action-barrister-wins-appeal-in-contempt-case/